Vivian Paleys Intimate Inquiry: A look at inquiry based on teacher experience August 2010 Anna Culik

We are dealing here with living things whose colors, habits, and general constitutions will vary with locale and with the skill of the individual gardener. This unpredictability, which strikes terror into the heart of the beginner, is in fact one of the glories of gardening. Things change, certainly from year to year and sometimes from morning to evening. There are mysteries, surprises, and always, lessons to be learned. After almost 40 years hard at it, we are only beginning. Amos Pettingill The Garden Book, 1986

How did Vivian Paley search for knowledge, especially regarding her understanding of her students and the skills necessary for effective and thoughtful teaching? Vivian shined the light of her attention not on the latest research or scholarly articles, but on the daily and specific experiences of her kindergarten students. I picture the faces of her kindergartners on the first day of school, like the abstract of a scholarly article on teaching. Their basic argument or temperament, maybe their focus of interest- some basic background information gleaned as they put away their new jackets and rub off the points of their new crayons. As the school year rolls on Paleys students, like the in-depth reading of an article or book, develop into fleshed out beings, each with their own best practices and conclusions made about what he or she needs. Paleys text on teaching are the children themselves, studied, analyzed, and probed. Im sure Paley was well versed in curriculum and standards, in the ever-changing best practices, but it was her instinct that she trusted, and the specific stories of her students she studied. Her methods of inquiry were markedly different from standard research based or theoretical forms of inquiry. She didnt utilize the language of psychology or delve into her own biography to develop her understanding of teaching and learning. As a teacher, Vivian listened. And when the voices of her students overlapped or the busyness of school life drowned out their individual voices, she recorded with audio tapes what may have been missed or overlooked. By recording the stories, the lessons, and play of her students, she practiced a form of inquiry as intimately connected to her craft as possible. Through listening and re-listening, by her notes and reflections, Paley was engaged in a constant inquiry regarding what was actually happening in her classroom with her students, rather than hypothetical learners or the students in other cities, states, or countries. She says, In my journal, I take the matter further: The children discuss these issues, good and bad, fair and unfair, more than we do. It is often easier to be open and honest about my doubts and denials, and errors in judgment, with the children in my class that with other teachers. And easier still to examine these feelings in my daily journal. The form of inquiry that Paley practiced recognizes each classroom as a unique space- from city to city, room to room, and experienced differently from person to

person. Her work, rather than broadly proscriptive, is focused on the here and now relationships and learning of the children she worked with every day, or as she says of her contract with her students, if you will keep trying to explain yourselves I will keep showing you how to think about the problems you need to solve. The inquiry she practiced differed from many other methods of inquiry in that the conclusions reached werent intended to be scaled up or applied in other situations. And although Paley encouraged all teachers to write about, reflect upon, and record their and their students classroom experiences, she did not posit that their questions or conclusions would be the same. Vivian Paley taught kindergarten, and as an early childhood educator she did propose that play and storytelling are the vehicles for learning for children of that age. This is as close as she comes to suggesting that her teaching methods are duplicatable, or should be adopted by other teachers. The issues of education are many and each with varying methods of inquiry used to understand them. Vivian Paleys method of inquiry, focused on her own teaching experience and the careful recordings of her classroom, may be more useful when trying to understand issues of relationship building and classroom environment, when trying to build upon students previous knowledge, or when incorporating student directed learning. A teacher interested in developing the social skills or sense of community in her classroom may be well served by using Paleys methods. If an educator is interested in formalizing a curriculum or developing a universal theory of learning, Paleys work may not serve well as a model. Paley recognizes the value of working with peers and colleagues, but also points out, you also need to know your own ideas more intimately; you need to know what makes you different from your colleagues. You have your own inner support of memories, feelings, and instincts. The limits of her methods of inquiry, in her own words, can be described as such: We can write about the problem of the moments or the problems of a lifetime. What do we think, what do the children think, and what do we think about what they think? Never will we fully discover the essential issues for each child or for ourselves, but what we do, as we write, is continually demonstrate the process of searching for solutions as we ask ourselves the questions no one else will ask, including questions about our own classroom experiences. The questions no one else will ask, or can ask, are the ones inherently relevant to the specific children being taught. Does Vivian Paleys work, being so specific to her classroom and her experiences, lend itself to accessibility and utility to other educators? Her method can be applied, I would claim, to any field or profession. What doctor wouldnt improve their bedside manner after listening to a recording made while treating a patient? What parent wouldnt benefit from reflecting on their own parenting skills, curious to better understand an incident or conversation? Paley notes that being curious about a student (or patient or child) does more than help the teacher. She says, The key is curiosity, and it is curiosity, not answers that we model. As we seek to know more about a child, we demonstrate the acts of observing, listening, questioning and wondering. When we are curious about a child's words and our responses to those words, the child feels respected. The child is respected. "What are the ideas that I have that are so interesting to the teacher? I must be somebody with good ideas. Sometimes it feels as though teachers arent well trusted to teach. Curriculum is often handed down and rigidly scripted, the daily routine revolves around teaching to

one test. Vivian Paley might not say it, but her method of inquiry puts the task of teaching children squarely on the teachers shoulders, and assumes the teacher can know best, especially if she listens closely. She seems to ask, Who else will know your classroom, your students, if not you? Paleys work and methods have not significantly been picked up by education scholars because the work is by its very nature individual, personal, and not easily packaged or reproduced. In our age of high stakes tests and prepackaged curriculums, Paley stands as a stark contrast by listening for the stories that expose her students most important concerns: fairness, friendship, and safety, and weaving them into the class. There is no guidebook that could easily replicate her methods because by its very nature it is dependent on the people involved in the class. Paley asserts, Even more than the unexamined classroom, I resist the uninvented classroom. Paley exemplifies a method of inquiry termed teachers experience where the inquiry is rooted in a qualitative teachers experience. This method can seem too specific or lacking in quantitative rigor, ie. how might Paleys tales of kindergarten be useful in my fifth grade art class or will it improve math scores? But her methods of inquiry, based on recording, listening, writing, and reflecting, are the tools that are accessible and useful for all teachers interested in improving their craft. This method has its limitations, and may not resolve questions posed that are intended to have comprehensive answers. But by looking closely at one teachers experience, and using her method of inquiry, we might just accept responsibility for asking the questions about our teaching that no one else can ask.
We are not, any of us, to be found in sets of tasks or lists of attributes: we cannot be defined or classified. We can be known only in the singular unfolding of our unique stories within the context of everyday events.

!
Vivian Paley